


A Surprisingly Good Idea

by edenbound



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:01:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29252643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenbound/pseuds/edenbound
Summary: It started, sort of, with a dare. Well, a taunt. Well, Seifer put the idea in his head, anyway.
Relationships: Zell Dincht/Fujin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	A Surprisingly Good Idea

**Author's Note:**

> I did not expect to find myself writing this, when I originally saw the prompt, but it stuck in my head and came out with a "thunk" when I was looking at the [Kiss Battle](https://seventhe.dreamwidth.org/437147.html) prompts... and my wife thinks it's cute, so I thought I might as well post it here.

It started out as a dare, sort of. Well, more of a taunt: Seifer might be back in Garden and on his best behaviour on pain of a Lionheart to the face (or some kind of court martial or whatever, Zell's not clear on the details), but he's still just as good at running his mouth as he's always been. He walked in on an embarrassing breakup scene, and he hasn't stopped laughing at Zell since, not that he'd ever stopped laughing at him in the first place.  
  
But the point is, something he said stuck in Zell's mind -- he'd said that if Zell was such a spluttering mess over this _librarian_ , how would he be about someone like Fujin? And he'd smirked, suggested that Fujin would send him running for Ma.  
  
It wasn't to spite him that Zell had said hi to Fujin the next day, but maybe it was a little bit to spite him when he decided to go over and offer to sit with her at lunch in the cafeteria a couple of days after that. The look of shock on her face settled it and put Seifer right out of his mind, though, because it suddenly became blindingly obvious that no one at all would sit with Fujin without Raijin and Seifer around. That, in fact, there was a two-table empty radius around her, like bad taste in friends was catching (in which case Zell feels he must be a lost cause himself by now).  
  
And the thing is -- the thing is, it's easier to talk to Fujin, actually. She's a little stiff and shy at first, but she's straightforward in her answers, and she's amazingly smart, and when you coax her just right and you get her out of her shell, she's _funny_ , partly because she has the most perfect sense of timing. It doesn't matter that she'd give him a run for his money in a fight; that almost makes it better, because he can find himself imagining how their lives might fit together, because he knows that there are things she can understand that someone who stays in Garden doing support might not.  
  
So by the time he actually works up the courage to ask her out, it's not a dare anymore at all, it's nothing to do with that original taunt. It's because he can picture maybe getting a smile out of her, and he wants to know what she'll say on any given subject, and because he knows where he is with her, he always knows, and knows that she'll say yes or no and that'll be that, and they'll be friends either way.  
  
He's not expecting the way she turns to him when he asks, when he offers to take her to dinner, when he clarifies very firmly that it's a date if she wants it to be. But then, part of why he likes her is that directness, and maybe he shouldn't be surprised that her response is a kiss -- clumsy but firm.  
  
"Yes," she says, while Zell's still blinking at her, stunned, and trying not to grin like an idiot.  
  
Seifer is going to hate this. Zell can't wait to see his face when he finds out.


End file.
